Happy Tree Sonic Heroes & Knuckles
by ArizonaSivy
Summary: To put it simply, this is a Sonic / Happy Tree Friends crossover. You can expect furry anthropomorphic animals, and a lot of ketchup. Rated T for gore and cursing. Read at your own responsibility!
1. Log Time No See

**Happy Tree Sonic Heroes & Knuckles**

 _ **Today's Episode:**_ **Log Time No See**

* * *

 _ **Starring:**_

 **S is for Sonic- Spiky Super Sayian sassily swooping past at the speed of sound!**

 _ **Featuring a few friends:**_

 **Team Sonic- Tails, Knuckles**

 **Team Dark- Shadow, Rouge, E-123 Omega**

 _ **Also featuring:**_

 **The Happy Tree Friends- Cuddles, Handy, Nutty, Petunia, Flaky, Sniffles, Lifty and Shifty, Flippy**

* * *

"Where's that _damn_ fourth Chaos Emerald?!" Shadow exclaimed irritably, exasperated with their overly long search.

Alongside him, hovering between the trees of the huge forest, there were the other two members of his team- Rouge the Bat, and E-123 Omega. Although the robot ignored their leader's cursing, the female treasure hunter rolled her eyes, and lowered her altitude to the speeding hedgehog's level in order to speak to him.

"I don't know about this place, Shadow," said Rouge. "Are you sure the Emerald is even here?"

"Of course I'm sure!" snapped he, not even looking her way as he meandered in between the trees of this seemingly endless jungle. "I can _feel_ it!"

"If you say so…" sighed the bat, looking at the sun. She had serious doubts if they would be able to find anything before nightfall.

"Sensors at full capacity," Omega stated in his metallic voice. "Searching. Searching…"

 _Why do I have to be such a sucker for gems?_ Rouge thought to herself, flapping her wings stronger to keep up with Shadow.

* * *

"Hey! Look over there, everyone!" Tails, who was piloting the Tornado, suddenly caught Sonic and Knuckles' attention with the excited squeal of his juvenile voice.

"Huh?" the dazed echidna, awoken from his nap, glared toward the surface of the earth below them as he wiped his tired eyes with his huge white boxing gloves. "But there's nothing down there! Only trees!"

"You gotta look closer, Knuckles!" Sonic exclaimed happily, outshouting the plane's roaring motor as he pointed toward something in the distance. "Over there, in that clearing!"

Startled, their red friend strained his eyes, gazing in the right direction this time.

"What the…?" he wondered. "Is that… who I think it is?"

"Sure looks like it!" Sonic dispelled the echidna's doubts.

"Well this can't be good…" answered Knuckles.

"How do you know?" inquired Tails. "Those three may have some useful information!"

"He's right!" the blue hedgehog affirmed, attempting to overcome Knuckles' evident reluctance. "Tails, set her down!"

"Roger that!" responded the fox.

"Hey, where the heck are you going?!" the echidna yelled right as Sonic, having crawled to the other side through his passenger's seat, leaned over the edge of the plane, and jumped straight toward the ground, rolling up in a ball.

"One of these days, that darn hedgehog is gonna end up as a red smear on the pavement!" Knuckles ground his teeth. "C'mon, what're you waiting for?! Land the plane already!"

"Alright, alright! Don't be such a hot-head!" Tails responded, tinkering with the Tornado's controls.

A few moments later, when the aircraft was safely on the ground, the echidna and the fox also jumped out of it to witness Sonic standing before the members of Team Dark- Shadow, Rouge, and Omega.

The blue hedgehog held his hands on his shoulders cockily, smiling, which his rival did not appreciate too much.

" _You!_ " Shadow spat at them once the three members of Team Sonic stood beside one another, adopting an expression of anger. "What're _you_ doing here?!"

"I don't think that's any of your business!" the already irritated Knuckles burst out, even redder than usual because of the way Rouge looked at him (whether her smile was a mocking or a seductive one, he could not tell, but it made him feel extra uncomfortable).

"Odds of encounter extremely low," estimated Omega. "Lifeform intentions unknown. Awaiting further instructions."

"I'll tell you what my advice is," Shadow swung his arm angrily at the unexpected guests in a warning gesture. "Get back into that pathetic metal contraption of yours, and get out of here before I get _really_ mad!"

"Hey!" whined the offended Tails. "The Tornado is _not_ pathetic!"

It almost looked as if a big fight was about to break out. Rogue, however, was a bit tired with a whole day of searching through the woods, so she wasn't really up for such a form of exercise. Thus, she decided to step in.

"I'll tell you what, boys," she encountered Sonic, standing in between him and Shadow, just in case. "It's a pleasure to see the three of you in the middle of this forest, but me and my friends here really aren't in the mood to play. How about we do this some other time, _hmm_? We're government agents, you know, and we can't have others tag along while we're on a secret mission…"

Instead of paying any real attention to what the bat was saying, Sonic tapped his foot impatiently and, smirking, cut her off by stating:

"You're looking for the Chaos Emerald, aren't you?"

The slight expression of shock which appeared in Rouge's eyes for a quarter of a second made the blue hedgehog smile even more.

"How did you…" mumbled the startled treasure hunter.

" _Enough!_ " Shadow yelled from behind her back, coming forward and looking as if he was about to blow. "Get the hell out of here, all three of you, before I…"

"Hey, I got an idea!" Sonic interrupted yet again, once more acting as if he didn't give a dang about what the members of the rival team were trying to spell out to him. "How about we have a race? You guys versus us. The first one to find the Emerald, gets to keep it! C'mon, let's have some fun! Whaddya say?"

"My radar indicates that the Chaos Emerald is indeed somewhere nearby!" Tails announced, checking his equipment and waving his brushes in the air in excitement.

" _Errr!_ " Shadow expressed a grimace of utter wrath. He then covered his face with a hand.

"Huh. You're not _chicken_ , are ya?" Knuckles also glared toward Team Dark (and especially Rouge) with a smug grin.

"You're on!" the bat answered their rivals with a fair dose of self-confidence. "None of you can possibly match _my_ treasure hunting skills!"

"Don't make me laugh!" the echidna retorted.

"Okay, you guys. Let's keep this thing clean, alright?" Sonic attempted to ease the tension a little bit. "No fights. Just a fair competition. Are we cool on that?"

"Rival success- highly unlikely," Omega announced, as if holding up his team's cocky attitude. "Rival humiliation- highly anticipated."

"Huh. Oh yeah?!" the blue hedgehog said in response to that…

… and then he took off without warning, heading toward the forest. Turning into a blue blur before everyone's eyes, Sonic left both Team Dark, as well as Tails and Knuckles, way behind.

" _Sooonic,_ wait up!" the fox exclaimed after his friend, propelling himself into the air as he and Knuckles rushed in pursuit of their leader.

" _Puh._ So much for a fair contest…" Shadow uttered grimly, clenching his fists. "So be it. You two! _Follow them!_ That Emerald _has to_ be ours!"

Omega and Rouge nodded, and soon all three of them were also flying at full speed, heading toward the woods.

But as soon as Tails and Knuckles, and Team Dark shortly thereafter, reached the edge of the clearing, they saw Sonic standing in front of the wall of trees, completely still.

As the rest of the heroes surrounded the hedgehog, they could notice a strange expression on his face. It looked as if Sonic was wondering about something.

"Huh? Is something wrong?" Tails asked his friend, landing at his side.

"No. I mean, I don't know," Sonic announced mysteriously. "Can you guys also hear that sound?"

Everybody went silent for a moment. At first, all they heard was the humming of the wind in the nearby forest. But then…

 _La-la lalalala, la-la lalalala…_

"Noise of unknown origin detected," Omega suddenly announced. "Direction- north-northeast…"

Turning the right way, the robot pointed his clawed arm at the woods.

Everyone looked at one another suspiciously.

"Someone's over there," said Knuckles.

"Maybe they know something about the Chaos Emerald?" Tails wondered.

"Well, if they do, we better go and ask them," Rouge delivered her opinion.

Taking a second to think this over, Sonic turned toward Shadow and said-

"How about we investigate this together for now? Who knows whom we might run into in this jungle."

The black hedgehog, himself exhibiting an expression of suspicion, silently nodded. Afterwards, all six of them carefully ventured into the forest.

They headed toward where the strange sound was coming from and, surely enough, soon the noise's volume intensified.

 _La-la lalalala, la-la lalalala…_

„Is it just me, or am I hearing… _singing_?" Knuckled asked in bedazzlement, wrinkling a brow.

"I can hear it, too!" Tails informed him. "That doesn't sound like anything dangerous!"

Omega emitted a few clicking sounds, and declared:

"Motion sensor activated. Movement detected- straight ahead! Multiple lifeforms."

"Don't get too careless," Shadow muttered cautiously.

Completely ignoring his rival's words, Sonic turned to him and said:

"Chill out, Edgy the Hedgy! It's probably just some locals! Let's go see if they have something to eat. I'm starving!"

Then, unfazed by Shadow's grumbling, the blue hedgehog once again ran ahead of everybody else, vanishing from their sight.

" _Fool!_ " blurted Team Dark's leader, rushing into pursuit. The rest followed.

As they ran, they noticed the sun shining through the trees, which could only mean that they've finally reached the edge of the forest. They then all heard Sonic's voice again.

"Hey! Come check this out, you guys!"

As Team Dark and the rest of Team Sonic exited the jungle, they were quite surprised by what they saw and heard, which was not exactly what any of them had expected.

 _La-la lalalala, la-la lalalala! La-la lalalala, la-la lalalala!_

Before them there stretched out a vast and beautiful grassy plain, all covered in flowers and bathed in sunlight. All around the plain, there were various animals walking around, carrying tools and busying themselves with some sort of work, singing merrily as they carried out their tasks. All of the animals were brightly colored and smiling, even in spite of their labor.

"Well, these guys seem like a happy bunch!" Tails estimated.

"Where… the hell… are we?" Shadow mumbled grumpily, not too fond of the overly sweet and colorful atmosphere of this place.

"This must be some kind of a local village or something," Sonic estimated. "See, Shad? I told you there was nothing to worry about!"

"Threat minimal," assessed Omega after taking a look around the plain.

"Hmph. I'm really not all that much pastels," Rouge exhibited a rather ambivalent attitude toward this new location and its inhabitants.

"Is there anything you enjoy apart from taking other people's property?" Knuckles asked her sarcastically.

The bat sent him an angry stare.

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that. Come, Knucklehead! Let's see if we can milk some of these critters for any useful info."

Still carrying a smirk, the echidna joined Rouge and approached one of the inhabitants of this strange place. It was a lemon-yellow rabbit, wearing pink bunny slippers and carrying a bundle of wood.

" _La-la lalalala…_ Oh, hi!"

As soon as the rabbit saw the new arrivals, he stopped singing and put his load down on the ground. Waving his little paw at them, he smiled brightly.

Knuckles and Rogue shared a startled look…

The bunny, still bursting with happiness, then said something that sounded like a question, but neither of them were able to understand a word.

"Uhh… What's he saying?" inquired the seriously stupefied echidna.

"What, you mean to tell me you don't know? I thought you understood baby talk!"

That sassy remark caused Knuckles to growl at Rouge… but she was right with one thing- the rabbit indeed sounded kind of like a toddler.

"Who's your new friend?" Sonic soon entered the conversation, with the rest of the team walking right behind the blue hedgehog's back.

"We're not sure," Rouge shrugged. "Seems he doesn't speak our language."

"Let me handle it!" Tails came up front, carrying one of his inventions.

Everyone observed as the fox set a few dials on the high-tech instrument, and then said:

"There! With my Universal Translator, we should be able to understand everything."

Approaching the rabbit, who still gazed at everyone with a big smile, Tails then encouraged him to say something. Once again, the bunny delivered a bumbling monologue.

Looking at the data appearing on the screen of his device, the boy genius announced:

"He says his name is 'Cuddles'. He lives here, and he's very happy to meet us all."

" _Cuddles?!_ " Shadow winced in disgust. "What kind of a name is that? And what's with those ridiculous slippers?"

Laughing slightly, Sonic attempted to calm his quickly irritated rival down.

"Easy there, heh-heh… Be nice to the locals, Shad."

"I can't help it! He's just so damn… _cute!_ I just can't stand this, it's sickening!"

"Shadow's assessment is accurate," Omega stated coldly. "Cuteness level is off the charts. Color brightness unsafe for optical sensors."

Ignoring both of them, Sonic decided to speak to Cuddles himself.

"Hello there, little fella!" he smiled at the bunny, immediately receiving another huge grin, which exposed the critter's buck teeth, in return.

"Oh hi!" the rabbit answered in his squeaky voice.

"Ah, so you can understand me! Cool! Well, I'm Sonic, anyway. Sonic the Hedgehog! These over here are my friends- Tails and Knuckles. This is Rouge, that big metal guy over there's Omega, and the one who looks like he spent most of his life working at a motorcycle bar, is Shadow."

Cuddles waved at everyone again, and said something that sounded very much like 'hello everybody'.

"There's a whole bunch of you over here, isn't there?" Sonic then asked him after taking another look around the plain. "Busy day, huh? Say, I wouldn't want to bother you guys, but could you maybe just take us to your boss, or something? We're not from around here, and we've got a few questions we'd like to ask."

Cuddles nodded enthusiastically, and after motioning at both teams, said:

"Follow me!"

The rabbit led them to a critter who looked a bit different than the others. It was a bear, and even though he was also brightly colored in a pastel shade of green, and even had the same pink heart-shaped little nose like everyone else around here, he was dressed in a military uniform, with a set of dog tags hanging from his neck. Sitting on top of a tree stump, the bear was sharpening a stick with a huge Bowie knife.

"Now that's someone I can talk to!" Shadow estimated upon encountering him.

When the bear saw his yellow friend walking toward him with a group of strangers, he put both his stick and his blade away and, grabbing a clipboard, came up to the group.

Standing to attention, greeting the teams with a military salute and a smile, he then said something to Cuddles. Tails began to translate.

"This is Flippy. He's in charge of the work that's being done here," announced the fox. "Apparently, Petunia the Skunk's house has recently burned down, and all of the inhabitants of the forest are helping her rebuild it."

"Hm, so that's what's going on around here, huh?" Sonic responded, rubbing his chin.

"Wow, these critters seem to be really decent folks!" even Rouge had to admit to this evident truth.

Almost as happy with the unexpected guests' arrival as Cuddles was, Flippy addressed the group again. Translating his words with the help of his device, Tails said:

"He wants us to meet the others."

When they all followed the bear, Knuckles became curious about Flippy's military attire.

"Hey," he said, coming up to him. "Nice get-up you got there! I take you're a soldier, right?"

Smiling, Flippy waved his head and mumbled:

"Uh-huh!"

"He says he's retired," Tails then explained to the echidna the rest of the green critter's unintelligible discourse. "Now he helps out in other ways, whenever he can."

"Awesome!" Knuckles announced with joy. "Always nice to meet a fellow trooper!"

Also enjoying the fact, Flippy offered him another salute, and the two shared a laugh.

The bear led everyone to two other critters, who were busying themselves with cutting down a huge tree at the edge of the forest.

"These are Handy and Nutty!" Tails explained Flippy's introduction to the rest of the group.

"They look a bit… odd," Shadow expressed his doubts.

Indeed, the others could also sense that something about these two was a little off. Even though they looked just as cute as the rest.

Handy was a brown beaver, he wore a hard hat and a tool belt around his waist. But that was not his strangest feature. As he lifted up his little arm to deliver the customary high-pitched 'hi' to his new acquaintances, all of them noticed that… his hands were completely missing. Amputated. Both of the beaver's limbs were nothing but stumps, swaddled in bandages.

Even though that was quite disturbing, most of the members of both teams ignored that out of curtesy, responding to the crippled critter's greeting with another simple 'hi'.

But Rouge, being a government agent, was far more inquisitive. Stepping away from the group, she examined what the beaver had been working on. Approaching a half-cut down tree, she noticed a hatched sticking out of the huge trunk, embedded deeply in the wood.

"Wait a minute," she wondered aloud, then turning toward Handy. "How can you use a hatchet if you don't have any hands?"

The beaver looked at his stumps, making an angry face…

"Oh, real smooth, bat-girl!" Knuckles corrected her. "Quit embarrassing us in front of our new friends, will you?"

Then, turning toward the critters, he smiled awkwardly and said:

"Sorry about that. She's… not exactly well-mannered."

Rouge immediately exhibited an offended frown, though neither Handy nor Flippy seemed to mind her question. Smiling, they both said something that sounded like "it's okay".

The third one of the bunch, a green squirrel named Nutty, also laughed at the situation, but the way he did it was somewhat… interesting. His chortle seemed uncontrolled, and it made him jump up and down and shake like an epileptic.

"Are you okay there, buddy…?" Sonic inquired of him, raising a brow.

"Erm… why's he have candy stuck to his fur?" Tails asked his friend. "And… what's wrong with his eye?"

"I honestly don't know…" the startled hedgehog responded.

Seeing that Nutty just continued to laugh, Sonic came up to him and waved his hand in front of the crazed squirrel's eyes. But he seemed completely out of touch with reality at this point. Noticing that, Sonic simply shrugged.

"Indication of serious glucose overdose detected in lifeform," announced Omega, himself focusing his attention on Nutty. "Symptoms of advanced diabetes clearly visible. Possible emotional and mental instability. Approach with caution."

"There's your answer, I guess," Sonic said to Tails.

Right after he spoke those words, however, a sound of another person approaching reached everyone's ears.

" _La-la lalalala…_ "

Turning around in the direction from where the singing came, all of them saw a red female porcupine, carrying a big pitcher of ice-cold lemonade. As soon as the critter noticed the guests standing at the edge of the forest, talking to her friends, she froze, and smiled awkwardly.

"Oh… Hi…" she greeted them shyly, lifting up a paw.

"Aw. She's a timid little thing, isn't she? That's just adorable!" Sonic said, looking toward the porcupine and encouraging her to approach with a gesture of his hand.

"I think I'm gonna be sick…" Shadow rolled his eyes, standing aside in the shade of the forest and resting his back against a tree.

Flippy also beckoned the shy critter to approach, seemingly telling her to share the lemonade she carried with their new friends and introduce herself. The porcupine proceeded to walk their way slowly, still a bit hesitant.

Rouge, who stood aside near Shadow, still had her attention focused on someone else, however. The odd green squirrel continued to bother her from the first moment she lay her eyes on him. Right now, she observed with disgust as Nutty tore a lollipop which was stuck to his fur off his green pelt and, hair and all, popped it into his mouth, jittering wildly.

The bat's astonishment reached its peak when she saw Nutty devour the piece of candy in an instant, as well as the effect it had on him… Giggling uncontrollably, almost frothing at the mouth, the squirrel fell into some sort of a state of trance.

"Uh-oh…" said the bat, watching as Nutty danced around like a grape in a blender, overcome by spasms of ecstasy, laughing out loud as he did so. The others didn't seem to notice him, perhaps because of being used to similar behavior exhibited by their friend…

But then, things got much worse. Unable to control himself, Nutty skipped dangerously close to the huge, half-fallen tree. Hitting the hatchet which stuck out of the wood with his back, he knocked the sharp tool to the ground, tripped, and collapsed himself.

The loud thump that followed caught everyone else's attention.

"Huh?" both Flippy and Handy said at the same time, looking toward their fallen friend, who wasn't moving anymore…

But when Nutty sprung up from the ground and laughed, indicating that he was fine, the other critters breathed with relief.

Until they heard a loud, cracking noise.

"Holy _shhh…._ " Shadow's eyes went wide as he noticed that the tree Nutty and Handy had been trying to cut down, now began to collapse all by itself.

" _Timbeeer!_ " the crippled beaver yelled warningly.

Flippy however, being the most recollected of the bunch, looked toward the red porcupine with horror. It appeared that she was standing right where the massive trunk was about to fall…

He cried out to warn her immediately, and the others could clearly understand that he was ordering her to run. The porcupine became terrified. Screaming, she dropped the lemonade pitcher she carried, and attempted to make a run for her life…

Unfortunately, she immediately slipped on the wet grass beneath her feet, and fell on her face.

" _AAAAAH!_ " a piercing, high-pitched scream reached everyone's ears…

Both the inhabitants of the forest and the new arrivals now held their breath, awaiting a tragedy.

Fortunately, Sonic stood close enough to notice what was going on. Without a second thought, he rushed to the porcupine's help, utilizing all of his amazing speed. Everything happened in a flash. All of the onlookers had to close their eyes as the huge tree collided with the ground, creating a deafening wave of sound and what could be considered a minor earthquake.

 _WHAM!_

After the echo of the collision died down, several of them found themselves on the ground, having lost their balance. Especially Tails, who immediately propelled himself back up to his feet, and shrieked:

" _Sonic!_ "

Coughing and trying to make out what was going on in the cloud of dust which now surrounded them, Knuckles strained his eyes and, noticing Tails flying toward the fallen trunk, exclaimed:

"Oh no!"

He then quickly ran after the fox. From where they were standing, they weren't able to see Sonic, or the porcupine, at all.

"Damn it!" cursed Shadow, also hovering toward the sight of the apparent tragedy along with Rouge and Omega. The devastated Handy and Flippy followed them as well, leaving the completely stupefied Nutty lying in the dirt.

All of them now ascended the huge trunk of the fallen tree, extremely worried by the silence which now surrounded them…

But when the dust subsided, at the other side of the log, they finally noticed something. A tangled ball of red and blue quills.

The heroic hedgehog lay aside, in safety, holding the shivering critter which he had narrowly rescued tightly in his embrace.

" _Soooniiic!_ " Tails' overjoyed cry was the first sound to break the silence.

"Hooray!" Handy and Flippy cheered, jumping up and down on top of the log, throwing their hands in the air (or at least Flippy did).

"Son of a gun, he did it again!" Knuckles admired his friend's swift and successful swoop into action.

Even the members of Team Dark were impressed with Sonic's fast thinking.

"Hmph," snorted Shadow, yet doing so with a lot less gloom than usual.

Rouge clapped her hands without a word, while Omega assessed:

"Impressive. Had the action been undertaken 4,28 nanoseconds later, it would have been unsuccessful."

Releasing the porcupine, Sonic stood up and shook the dirt off his shoulders. He smiled and, although still being a bit dazed, said:

"Oh, you're all too kind, heh-heh… It's just what I do… Fastest thing alive, you know…"

Then, noticing that the critter he'd just rescued was still lying on the ground motionlessly, he stooped down and put his hand on her shoulder.

"Hey. You okay?" he whispered to her with a smile. "You can get up now. I didn't let that big ol' tree turn you into a pancake!"

As if waking from a trance, the porcupine blinked a few times, unable to recognize who was crouching in front of her. Completely bedazzled, she examined her body, but finding no injuries, she looked into Sonic's eyes again.

And then she bared her teeth in the cutest big smile, and threw herself at her hero's neck.

"Oh thank you! Thank you, thank you, thank you!" the critter squealed in gratitude, showering the hedgehog with a fountain of kisses, which caused him to blush.

"Hey, Sonic! I thought you already had a girlfriend!" Shadow addressed his rival sarcastically.

"Oh, shut it, Shad! Amy is not my girlfriend!"

He then delicately indicated to the porcupine that she could stop now. Beaming with joy, the girl stood before him and gazed at her savior with true admiration.

"Hey, I'm Sonic, by the way," he smiled back at her. "What's your name, sugar plum?"

The porcupine muttered something shyly.

"She says her name is 'Flaky'," Tails quickly translated her words.

"Flaky, is it? Huh, I wonder why…"

The hedgehog didn't finish his sentence, noticing the porcupine's namesake. Only now was he able to see that her quills were all covered with big white flakes…

… of dandruff.

And what he also noticed was that, after his daring rescue, Flaky's dandruff now covered _his_ quills, as well.

Laughing awkwardly, he attempted to shake it off so that the girl wouldn't notice…

In the meantime, all the other inhabitants of the forest began to assemble around them, attracted by the commotion and the sound the fallen tree had made. Flippy and Handy quickly explained to them what happened. And so, Sonic was instantly and unanimously announced as the forest's hero.

Their bear overseer told the rest of the critters that work was done for the day, and that a great celebration would immediately be organized to honor Flaky's savior, as well as all of his friends. Everyone received the news with a happy cheer, and got to work at once.

Soon Team Sonic and Team Dark found themselves sitting around a campfire with the rest of the local animals. The critters, abandoning their tools, brought with them baskets containing various yummy foods which they generously offered to their guests.

After everyone introduced themselves, the new arrivals began relaxing and chatting with their hosts.

Sonic sat alongside Flaky, who completely lost her inhibition in the presence of her hero. He listened to her constant, ecstatic monologues without a word. Although he hardly understood what the girl was saying, he didn't seem to mind, somehow. Instead, he continued to look at her with a smile.

Tails and Omega were engaged in conversation with Sniffles- a blue anteater of astonishing intelligence, in whom the fox genius found an excellent peer. The brainiac critter was fascinated with Tails' Universal Translator, and showed him some of his own inventions, which he brought with him that day to aid his friends in their work. After enough time, both Tails and Omega were able to learn Snuffles' peculiar dialect, and carry on a proper conversation on subjects like science and mechanics.

Knuckles was busy arm-wrestling with Flippy, who proved himself a formidable rival.

After being introduced to Petunia, the female skunk who had survived the burning down of her house and whom the rest of the critters were helping to get a new roof over her head, Rouge noticed that the homeless girl (although she smelled pretty good for a skunk because of the tree-shaped car freshener she wore on her neck) was a bit unkempt. Thus, the bat decided to help her out by lending Petunia her make-up kit. The two females quickly attracted a part of the male population of the forest, including Cuddles and Handy, who orbited around them for a while and eventually engaged in flirty chit-chat.

Only Shadow sat alone, gazing at the kettle which hung over the bonfire. All of this nonsense was a complete waste of time for him. Instead of hanging out with these cutesy furry freaks, he'd much rather be searching for his desired Chaos Emerald.

Bored and irritated, he reached out toward a bag of coffee which one of the critters had put by his side. Grabbing a handful of beans, he popped them in his mouth, creating a crunching sound as he ground them between his teeth grimly.

He became even more irritated when he noticed that someone was watching him. Nutty, the weird squirrel who had almost caused his friend's death just a while ago, was sitting nearby, smiling as if nothing at all had happened and piercing Shadow with the stare of his crazy eyes.

The dark hedgehog sent him a warning glare in return. Nutty winced a bit, and looked away.

The squirrel then grabbed another lollipop, looked at it lustfully and moaned in delight, licking his lips. But as he prepared to sink his teeth in the candy, he was prevented from doing so by Shadow, who snatched the lollipop straight out of the squirrel's hands, and threw it into the fire angrily.

Nutty's ears drooped, and his face became extremely sad.

Having had enough of it all, Shadow stood up, deciding to depart from everyone else's presence which annoyed him so much.

Heading toward the forest, he walked past the supply crates which the critters had brought to the celebration. But then he heard something strange.

 _Heeheeheeheehee!_

Curious about where this sinister laughter might have its origin, he looked behind one of the crates…

… only to discover a pair of green-furred raccoons, who were loading the food which apparently did not belong to them into big bags.

"What the hell are you guys doing?" he asked.

"WHOAH!" the raccoons exclaimed in shock, taken by surprise.

As they turned toward the hedgehog, he noticed that they must have been twins, as they were almost completely identical. Apart from the fact that one of them wore a fedora on his head.

The brothers attempted to explain themselves, but unfortunately all of their speech was nothing but a raspy babble. Eventually, Shadow had enough of it.

" _Silence!_ " he yelled at the raccoons, making them stiffen and shut their mouths. "So, I guess I just caught a pair of thieves. Isn't that right? I can simply turn you in to that bear soldier fellow… But then again, I also have another idea."

"Huh?" the twins shared a startled look, and then redirected their eyes at Shadow again.

"I'm looking for a certain jewel," continued the hedgehog. "Maybe you've seen it somewhere. You're thieves, and thieves usually know a lot about local treasures."

The raccoons looked as if they did not understand what Shadow was saying. Or, at least, that was the impression. They answered him with a shrug and a short babble, but the hedgehog still had a sneaky suspicion that they were only trying to double-cross him.

And he did not take kindly to that.

Pouncing at one of the brothers, the one without the hat, he grabbed the astounded critter by the throat, lifted him up from the ground, and pinned him against one of the boxes.

"Waaah!" cried both of the twins in panic.

"Don't you lie to me!" Shadow screamed at them. "You've gotta know _something!_ I'm looking for a jewel, understand? A big, shiny gem! You do know what a gem is, don't you?!"

As the hat-wearing raccoon squirmed and choked in Shadow's grasp, his brother, not finding any other solution, began to nod and gesticulate vigorously. It seemed that he was trying to indicate to the hedgehog that he had something to show him.

Placated by that, Shadow let go of the other twin, who fell to the ground and began to gasp for air. His brother then bared his teeth in a laugh, and presenting to him the sack which they brought with them, dunked inside, and began searching for something at the bottom.

The brothers then stood side by side and, laughing together this time, presented to Shadow something that was indeed very big and shiny…

… but it was no Chaos Emerald.

"What in the hell is that thing?" frowned Shadow.

He was now looking at some sort of a golden statue of an animal with a truly eerie expression painted on its face. It must have been some kind of an ancient idol, and looking at made the hedgehog feel very strange.

The appearance of the idol was unsettling for some reason, and Shadow felt as if an aura of energy emanated from it. But it was a different energy than the one which the Chaos Emeralds emitted. A much _darker_ one.

"Where did you…" Shadow asked, but did not finish. There was now something else which caught his attention.

In the distance, he heard an irritating, high-pitched sound which almost gave him a headache. Looking toward where the noise was coming from, he noticed a neglected kettle hanging over the fireplace. The kettle was now red-hot, blowing a cloud of hot steam through its whistle… The forgotten kettle had bulged, and looked as if it was about to burst.

And then…

" _WATCH OUT!_ " Shadow yelled to warn the others, but it was already too late.

The kettle exploded with a blast comparable to that of a grenade. The pot itself was sent flying through the air, shooting boiling water through its snout like a rocket, while it cover, which was blown off in the explosion, flew toward where Rouge, Petunia, and the male critters were standing, akin to a disk of death.

Without hesitation, Shadow pulled out the gun he always carried with him, and shot.

A metallic sound was heard. Everyone gasped, and covered their heads.

When they opened their eyes, Shadow was still standing with his gun drawn. He had managed to shoot the flying kettle cover like a skeet just in the nick of time, thus diverting its trajectory before the piece of metal could hit Rouge, or anyone else, in the head.

"Hmph," the hedgehog said proudly. "Looks like Sonic isn't the only fast hedgehog around here…"

But he wasn't able to bask in his own glory for too long. For as soon as everyone were able to notice what had just happened…

" _AAAAAH!_ " Flaky screamed in utter horror, pointing toward something lying by the bonfire.

The concerned Sonic asked her:

"What's the ma… OH HOLY CRAP!"

Soon, everyone joined the hedgehog in investigating the sight which shocked him so much.

And, indeed, it was a shocking one.

One of the projectiles may have been stopped by Shadow before it could hurt anyone, but the same could not be said for the kettle itself…

The unfortunate Nutty sat way too close to the explosion. The blown-up metal pot was now firmly embedded in the front of the squirrel's skull. Small streams of boiling water still erupted from the kettle's snout, which now looked as if the critter had a new mouth. A sight which would have been quite comical, only if it weren't gruesome.

"Damn! Is he even alive?!" the frightened Knuckles expressed everyone else's thought, outshouting the cries of terror which now could be heard all around the injured squirrel.

Flippy, their leader, noticing his friend's body twitching, ran up to him and began shaking the other critter in an attempt to resuscitate him.

"Nutty, are you okay?" he seemed to be saying, almost bursting out in tears.

Everyone looked on, hoping that the squirrel was still alive… But unfortunately, as soon as Flippy attempted a heart massage, something happened that made everyone's stomachs turn.

When the bear applied pressure to Nutty's chest, a whole fountain of blood and melted flesh erupted from the kettle snout, drenching both Flippy, and those who stood nearest, in a nasty red shower.

" _WAAAH!_ " shrieked the girls. Both Flaky and Tails turned away from the sight, immediately beginning to barf.

"Life functions… terminated," Omega finally informed those who still had any doubt about the undeniably gruesome truth.

They stood in silence, completely dumbstruck and shocked.

The only one who moved, was Flippy. Touching his face, the bear wiped off some of Nutty's blood which completely covered it, and looked at his palm in horror. His hand began to shake.

Concerned with the critter's behavior, Shadow gave him a closer look… and then noticed that Flippy had his eyes fixed on the gun he was still holding. For some twisted reason, he began to chuckle.

To everyone's even greater shock, their leader, blood dripping down his chin, burst out in a fit of uncontrollable laughter. It was as if the sight of Nutty's dead body… caused him some sort of a sick joy!

"What the f…?" Shadow asked, disgusted, and quickly put away his firearm.

He did so just at the right time, as Flippy was already reaching out to snatch the weapon from the hedgehog's hand. Having failed to do that, he roared in anger. It was then that the terrified onlookers could see that something in the bear's face had changed. His green eyes went wide as if he were on drugs, and his teeth now seemed much sharper than they were before, somehow. The soldier roared like a beast.

Before anyone from the now completely stunned crowd was able to stop him, Flippy pulled out his knife, and turned toward the closest person who stood by him.

Moving with astonishing speed, laughing maniacally, Flippy grabbed Cuddles by his long ears, and before the bunny was even able to wince, the bear jammed the blade right through the middle of his ribcage. He did so with so much strength that the knife went out the other way, shattering the spine, and ripping out Cuddles' heart through a hole in his back.

"WAHAHAHA!" chortled the crazed Flippy.

Such violence done by someone who did not exhibit any sign of being nothing else than a cute teddy bear, was truly chilling. The others, observing the life fading in the disemboweled rabbit's eyes and the profuse bloodflow staining his yellow fur, moved away from the slaughter in panic. Flippy, however, abandoning Cuddles' corpse, picked up one of the sharp sticks which was meant to be used for making smores, fastened the rabbit's heart on its tip, and handed the bloody stake to Petunia. As the skunk shrieked in terror, Flippy laughed in her face, turned around, and ran away toward the woods.

As the critters continued to scream in complete and utter terror, the members of Team Sonic and Team Dark stood in silence, totally shocked by what they have just witnessed…

In the midst of what seemed to be the most colorful and happy little village, they now saw two mutilated bodies, and a whole pool of blood.

Unable to comprehend any of this, with Flaky clasping his hand firmly, the wide-eyed Sonic turned to his friends and uttered:

"Did that… did that just happen? Or is this some nightmare?"

"No…" whispered Rouge, her constricted throat barely enabling her to speak. "We all saw what you saw…"

"That bear…" Sonic continued. "He just flipped out! He completely lost it at the sight of Nutty's blood… and then he gutted Cuddles like a Thanksgiving turkey! Why would he ever do that to his friend?!"

"I think he may be suffering from PTSD…" Knuckles, himself totally stunned, pointed out.

"PTSD? What's that?" Sonic asked him.

But Knuckles was not the one who delivered the answer. Shadow was.

"It's something you wouldn't know anything about…" the grim hedgehog whispered sadly, looking at the gun he held in his hand. His reaction surprised the others. It was as if Shadow understood Flippy's condition… and felt compassionate toward him, for some reason.

But when the black hedgehog addressed the others again, he did so in a far more serious way.

"We've got to find that bear… and stop him before he does any more harm!"

The others swiftly agreed. After all, Flippy was still on the run, out of his mind, and armed.

"Yeah," Sonic nodded. "But… where is he?"

Unfortunately, they didn't have to wait long for an answer…

 _WAHAHAHAHA…!_

The sound of maniacal laughter echoed above their heads.

Turning toward where it came from, all of them saw the silhouette of Flippy as he stood on top of a nearby hill, with the fallen tree that had caused so much commotion earlier during the day under his feet.

"Oh my… I think I know what he's trying to do!" whimpered Tails.

Indeed, the killer bear had enough time to devise a truly sinister plan. Rolling the huge log with his feet, laughing as he did so, he caused the trunk to tumble down the hill… heading straight toward the campfire, and the remaining animals gathered around it.

"Fly, you fools!" Shadow blurted out in anger, and quickly warped out of everyone's sight.

Right after he did that, the critters, gazing at the enormous piece of wood heading their way with Flippy dancing on top of it, all erupted in a unison cry of despair.

"RUN!" Sonic also rushed his friends. "Head for the woods!"

He then grabbed Flaky's hand and took off without hesitation in order to save the porcupine a second time.

The others also scattered, screaming. Some were smart enough to get out of the tumbling log's way, and those made it to the forest safely. Handy, unfortunately, didn't have that kind of luck. Running in a straight line, looking over his shoulder, he witnessed the terrifying sight of the tree rolling over the dead bodies of Nutty and Cuddles, turning them into sausage filler. Seeing the fire in Flippy's eyes right behind his back, the beaver ran even faster, groaning in despair. In order to lighten his burden, he even unbuckled his utility belt, which caused all of the tools he carried with him to become stuck in the rolling tree's bark. Completely exhausted, Handy tripped. Not only was he immediately squished by the log, so much so that his brains burst through his eye sockets, but his body was also ripped to shreds by his own tools which were embedded in the wood.

Flippy was so delighted by the sight that, in his fit of insane merriment, he failed to notice that the log was now getting close to the edge of the forest. As he was still balancing on top of it, he screamed, and when the rolling trunk collided with the trees, he was sent flying through the air and into the jungle.

* * *

As she flew away from the log, Rouge managed to snatch the two twin raccoons from the ground, and carry them to safety in the midst of the woods. When she set them both on the ground, they all heard some muffled screams in the distance. But then everything went silent.

Taking a deep breath, barely able to keep herself from shaking, the bat looked straight into the brothers' eyes.

"Okay you two. We're not safe yet. So keep quiet, and look for a good hiding spot!"

The raccoons glared at her in dismay, and both shrugged.

"What? _You're_ the locals, not me! Don't you know this forest like the back of your hand?"

Rushed by Rouge's admonition, the brothers began running around franticly. Eventually, one of them hid under a tree branch, and the other- inside the sack they were carrying. When the first one saw that his twin's hiding spot was better than his, he attempted to crawl into the bag as well. But since the other raccoon didn't let him, the two started fighting, creating much more noise than Rouge would have liked.

"Uh, amateurs! And you call yourselves thieves?" the bat rolled her eyes at them in exasperation.

Then, flapping her wings, she grabbed both of them by the scruff of their necks, and carried them all the way up to the highest branches of the biggest nearby tree.

For some time, the twins were scared of the height, and Rouge had a hard time convincing them to shut up. But when they did, and an hour passed in silence and relative safety, she herself got bored and started asking them questions in a whisper.

From what the bat was able to make out of the twins' raspy babble, their names were 'Lifty' and 'Shifty'.

After another unspecified amount of time, the raccoons began to complain again, feeling uncomfortable because of sitting in the tree for so long. But Rouge did not allow them to go down just yet, saying that the silence that surrounded her still made her feel suspicious. She said that, if the others were already safe, they would have heard them by now.

And so they sat on three neighboring branches, with Rouge in the middle. Left alone with her gloomy thoughts, Rouge began to wonder. After a certain question continued to bug her for a while, she decided to present it before one of the twins.

"Lifty!" she whispered. "Whatever happened to Flippy over there? Has he ever acted this way? He seemed to me like a decent guy, and I'm an excellent judge of characters!"

Silence.

"Lifty?" Rouge repeated, turning toward the branch on which the raccoon was just sitting.

But the branch was empty.

" _Lifty?!_ " the bat called out a bit more erratically, turning the other way. But the critter who sat on that branch, was Shifty.

"Where's your brother?" Rouge asked him.

The raccoon shrugged, and mumbled something that sounded like:

"I dunno. Wasn't he over there?"

Just to make sure she wasn't seeing things, Rouge looked toward the other branch yet again. But, just as before, there was no one there.

"Oh no!" she said, seriously concerned. "Lifty's gone!"

She then began to call for him, raising her voice a bit too much because of the nervousness.

"Lifty?! _Lifty!_ "

But no matter where she looked, she didn't see him anywhere.

"Where is he? Did he slip and fall to the ground?!"

The question was directed at Shifty. But when Rouge heard no answer, she once again turned toward the branch which the second brother had been sitting on.

And that branch was now empty, as well.

" _What?!_ " the seriously terrified bat yelped, feeling a chill running down her spine. She was left completely alone.

For a moment, she sat there hyperventilating, waiting for her racing heartbeat to ease a bit. She could feel cold sweat on her forehead…

But then, suddenly, when nothing happened and she calmed herself a bit, she no longer felt the cold. In fact, now the sensation on top of her head turned warm.

Warm and _wet_.

"Huh?" Rouge said, touching her forehead. When she afterwards looked at her glove, she noticed, to her shock, that it was stained…

… with blood.

Her eyes as wide as saucers, the bat looked straight up, and almost fell off the branch she was sitting on.

Right above her head, bundled up in a neat display, there were Lifty and Shifty. The twins hung by their tails, flayed halfway through, tied up together in their own intestines. Lifty had his hat nailed to his skull, whereas Shifty was looking at Rouge with his dead eyes that had seemingly popped out of their sockets due to the suffering he experienced in his final moments.

The brothers' still warm blood continued to drip on top of Rouge's nose.

"Eep…" she yelped.

And then:

"AAAAAH!" with a shriek of complete horror, Rouge took off and began flapping her wings as fast as she could, wishing only to get out of that place and from the bloody sight she was no longer able to banish from her mind.

Behind her back, she could hear a silent laughter…

* * *

" _WAHAHAHAHA…!"_

Knuckles sensed that Flippy was right at his tail. Gliding through the forest, he had no idea how the bear was able to catch up with him… but somehow, he did.

"Damn it!" the echidna mumbled a curse, maneuvering around the trees.

And then he saw him. It appeared that the bear really had a lot of military experience under his belt. Knuckles was sure of that as soon as he saw Flippy swinging from tree to tree and from vine to vine like a monkey, gaining on him fast.

 _There's no way I'm letting him beat me…_ he promised himself, feeling his heart pound.

Making sudden turns, he managed to outmaneuver the bear, and then attempted to attack him from the side. Their eyes locked in a stare of rage, and they almost collided with one another in mid-air. But Knuckles was not only incapable of delivering a crushing punch to Flippy, but was nearly slashed by the crazed critter's knife.

"Damn! That was too close!" he said to himself, catching his breath while attached to the trunk of a tree.

But Flippy had noticed him and, carrying his knife in his sharp teeth, began to climb the same tree with the swiftness of a panther, chuckling as he did so. The flame in his eyes was truly terrifying.

Groaning in anger, Knuckles quickly hovered over to a neighboring tree. When Flippy found himself on the same level, he taunted him with another laugh, and cut a vine with his blade, preparing to swing.

"C'mon, I'm ready for you!" said the echidna, clenching his fist and getting ready to punch.

But then, a strange noise caught the attention of both of them. It sounded like someone's horrified gasp.

Knuckles and Flippy both looked in the same direction. On the ground below them, they saw Petunia, completely terrified by the sight of the murderous bear on the tree top.

Delighted by that, Flippy chortled, sending Knuckles a dastardly glare which perfectly indicated his intentions.

As the bear jumped down from the tree branch, using the vine he was holding in order to get to Petunia instead of Knuckles, the echidna himself also let go of the surface of the tree in an attempt to stop him.

"Oh no you don't!" Knuckles cried out, gliding in Flippy's direction as fast as he could in order to cut him off.

And, thankfully, his plan worked. Before the bear was able to reach the screaming skunk, Knuckles collided with him, giving him a taste of his fists.

"Ugh!" Flippy whined, blood shooting from his nose. The power of the impact sent him flying through the air and into the bushes.

"Quick!" Knuckles said to Petunia, grabbing her by the hand. "Let's get out of here before Freddy Fazbear wakes up again!"

The skunk nodded, and soon both of them began to run through the woods.

They ran until neither of them was able to move anymore, after which they both collapsed to lay on the grass. When they were finally able to stand up again, Petunia approached her savior, and thanked him with sincere joy.

"Huh-huh, don't mention it!" the echidna laughed, scratching the back of his head. "We really showed that maniac who's boss, didn't we? For once, it's Knuckles who's the hero!"

Petunia was ecstatic, and the echidna had a hard time convincing her to let go of him. But when she did, Knuckles decided that they should go back to the village and see what's going on with the others. Unfortunately, they were lost, and had no idea which way they should go.

"Okay, just follow me for now," Knuckles stated, deciding to lead the way. "And keep your eyes open."

"Uh-huh…" mumbled the skunk, staying close behind her rescuer.

They walked for what seemed to be a longer time than it took them to get there, and Knuckles was beginning to get worried, as the end of the forest was nowhere to be seen.

Finally, stooping down to the ground, he exclaimed:

"Tracks! That's good!"

But then, having examined what was on the ground, he added:

"And they're _our_ tracks… Which is _not_ good. Looks like we've been walking in circles!"

"Aww…" Petunia groaned sadly as her ears drooped.

Almost at once however she pricked them up again, as a silent sound could be heard in the distance.

 _La-la lalalala… La-la lalalala…_

„What the…?" Knuckles stood in astonishment, not expecting to hear singing again that day.

"Oh hey! Let's go over there!" Petunia mumbled enthusiastically, rushing forward toward where the sound came from.

"No, wait a minute!" Knuckles attempted to stop her. But it was already too late.

Naively thinking that they were safe, walking without consideration, Petunia felt something touching her foot. Her and the echidna then heard a clicking sound, which Knuckled estimated to be that of an activated trip wire.

"Uh-oh…" Petunia said sadly… and was immediately drenched with a liquid which was spilled on her from a bucket that hung on a branch above her head.

"What is that stuff?!" Knuckles exclaimed in horror, fearing that, since Flippy was an experienced soldier, he may have filled his trap with something gruesome, like acid or poison…

But Petunia, although wet, just continued to stand there. Her face did not melt away, and she was still pretty much alive, though completely startled.

Soon afterwards, both the skunk and the echidna heard another silent sound. Only that this one was not one of singing.

 _Wahahahaha…!_

"What…? Where's that coming from?" Knuckles turned his head in all directions, yet could not see anything at first…

And then, when he strained his eyes, he noticed movement among the top branches of one of the nearby trees. It appeared that someone, who must have been covered in camouflage, had just lit a match…

It was then that Knuckles understood, and recognized the smell. The liquid in the bucket was neither acid nor poison.

It was gasoline.

" _Nooooo…!_ " he screamed, attempting to run over to Petunia.

The match fell to the ground several feet away from the skunk, but before Knuckles was able to reach her, the fumes in the air were already ignited.

The explosion knocked the echidna to the ground. As soon as he lifted his head up again, he noticed that Petunia was no longer there. Instead of her, there was a living, breathing torch, dancing around to the tune of its own cries of pain. The stench of burned fur and flesh almost made Knuckles vomit.

"Oh no, _oh no_ , OH NO!" he yelled, jumping to his feet and desperately looking for a way to help Petunia out somehow. But there was nothing he could do, as there was no water anywhere in sight, and if he dared to touch her, he would undoubtedly set himself on fire as well.

The burning skunk's screams almost caused him to tear his own dreadlocks out, and he wished he could stop her suffering, somehow… But then, something unexpected happened. Carried away by her blind agony, Petunia tripped, fell, and vanished from Knuckles' sight. All he could hear afterwards was the sound of someone falling into a deep hole, and a muted splash.

Rushing over to where Petunia had just been, he noticed something that was indeed a hole in the ground, which seemed to have led to some underground cavern. And, judging by the splash he heard, the cavern was filled with water.

" _Petuniaaa!_ " the echidna yelled, gazing into the darkness at the bottom of the cave.

At first, he heard nothing, and feared the worst… But a moment later, the sounds of silent moaning reached his ears.

"Uh… Oooohhh…"

It appeared that the skunk was still alive! And that the water in the cave had extinguished the fire which had engulfed her!

"Petunia, thank goodness! A-are you alright?!" the echidna called out to her, barely able to believe their luck…

There was some more moaning, but then, astonishingly, a rather shaky laughter.

"Err… Heh-heh… Ay-okay…."

"I can't believe this! Hang on! I'm gonna go find someone, and we'll get you out!" Knuckled assured her, his voice almost ecstatic. He wanted to leave and start looking for help, but then, when he heard another sound coming from the bottom of the cavern, he hesitated.

"Err… Uh-oh… Whaaa…?! No, no! Ahhh! _AAAAAH!_ "

Hearing that, Knuckles feared it may have, somehow, been Flippy. If that were so, he would have personally gone down into the hole to kick the bear's ass. But as he listened, a reality far more gruesome unraveled before him.

The sounds that surrounded Petunia, which were the cause for her screaming, soon turned into a huge chorus of squeaky voices, growing louder every second. It could have only been one thing.

"Rats…" mumbled Knuckles, his face turning pale.

The screams coming from down below intensified.

* * *

As they were standing away from the rest of the group during Flippy's first attack, Tails and Omega found themselves running from the tumbling log of death not toward the forest, but in the direction of a large wooden building that turned out to be a sawmill.

A terrified Sniffles soon caught up with them, estimating that he'd be safer in their company than by himself.

"N-no sweat, Sniffles!" Tails assured him, though himself still seriously shaken by the gruesome events which had happened earlier that day. "O-omega's the ultimate robot, b-basically a walking arsenal. That crazy bear doesn't s-stand a chance against the three of us! R-right?"

"Affirmative," the robot himself agreed.

Smiling happily after being assured that his new friends would protect him, Sniffles pointed toward the entrance to the sawmill, encouraging them to hide in there.

"I don't know… Are you sure it's safe?" Tails asked his fellow scientist.

The anteater nodded, and Omega quickly backed him up by stating:

"Estimated chance of survival 12% higher indoors."

Having been convinced by both of them, Tails finally agreed to enter the sawmill. He was a bit concerned by how big the entrance was, and that through it someone could see them from the outside. But Sniffles then simply pressed a button on the wall, which made the huge automated door of the building close shut.

They remained within the sawmill for a couple of hours, and eventually felt that they were completely safe. To pass the time, Tails looked up information on what could be the cause of Flippy's condition on his handheld.

"It says here that the shock associated with the post traumatic stress disorder may cause a person suffering from it to develop a split personality. One of the people living in your head exists in real life, whereas the alter ego continues to live in the circumstances when the trauma had first occurred."

"Uh-huh! That sound fairly accurate!" Sniffles waved his head. "Flippy had been a private during the Vietnam War. At some point, his unit was wiped out, and he was the only one left alive in the jungle. I've heard he had to do horrible things in order to survive! The gun your friend used, and the sight of Nutty's blood, must have reminded him of the war… He's not being himself! He must be thinking that he's still in the jungle, and that all of us are his enemies!"

"Yeah, that must be it," Tails agreed with the anteater. "According to my data, the only way we can turn him back to his old self, is to subdue him somehow and make him realize where he is and what he's doing. Which isn't going to be easy, I presume…"

"I'm afraid you're right…" Sniffles admitted sadly.

"If that proves impossible," Omega said to them, exposing the minigun hidden in his arm, "the lifeform will have to be eliminated."

They sat like that a little longer in silence, losing track of time completely. Tails and Sniffles were almost about to doze off, when suddenly they were awaken by a low-volume warning coming from Omega.

"Motion detected."

Gasping in dread, both the fox and the anteater gazed toward the entrance to the sawmill. As the sun still shone from the other side, they were able to see the shadow of two legs which belonged to someone standing in front of the door.

Omega lifted up his arm, ready to shoot.

" _No!_ " Tails whispered to him. "We don't know who that is!"

The shadow remained there for a while… and then it vanished.

The trio sat in silence for a few more minutes, holding their breaths. But when the robot informed them that he detected no movement anymore, they relaxed. One question was still left unanswered, however.

"Who was that?" asked Sniffles.

"I dunno!" Tails answered him.

And so, they were forced to continue waiting like that in uncertainty. After enough time, the anteater's stomach began to rumble. He had been working all morning, and the meal they were all supposed to have after the guests' arrival never happened due to Flippy's outburst.

Tails tried to encourage Sniffles to stay put, but the critter couldn't take it anymore. Looking for something to eat, he noticed an ant walking on top of one of the logs which were stored inside the building. Licking his lips with his long tongue, the anteater began his hunt.

Although Tails warned him to watch out, Sniffles became rapt by his desire for food. Searching for ants, he walked all around the sawmill. When he finally found one, and the terrified insect attempted to make a run for it, the critter grabbed an empty can, and rushed into pursuit. The ant climbed up the wall and onto the windowsill, but Sniffles was right on its track. Laughing out loud, he trapped his prey with the use of his can.

"Sniffles! What are you doing? Get away from the window!" Tails continued to warn him.

"You are exposing yourself to those who may be outside," even Omega considered that to be irresponsible.

But Sniffles didn't care. Picking up the can with the ant trapped inside, he jammed his hand in, attempting to fish out a tasty treat. And then, as the oblivious anteater smiled with passion, Tails noticed something strange appearing on his forehead…

An odd, red glow in the shape of three dots. When the fox realized what it was, it was already too late.

And what it was, was a military laser pointer.

" _Get dooown!_ " Tails screamed at Sniffles. But the anteater wasn't fast enough.

The bolt of a crossbow then shattered the window by which Sniffles was standing. Flying through the air with a silent whoosh, it hit the anteater right in the forehead. The power of the impact was so strong that his head got torn straight from his neck and, leaving behind it a trail of blood, was impaled at the bottom of one of the logs, still having Sniffles' glasses on. As well as a very surprised expression.

The rest of the anteater's body continued to stand there for a while, shooting out fountains of blood from its neck. The can fell from Sniffles's hand and rolled on the floor. When it stopped, an ant came out of it, and quickly ran away.

Standing there in bewilderment at the gory sight of Sniffles' death, Tails looked as if he'd lost his consciousness. What finally made him snap out of it, was the sound of Omega's voice.

"Life functions… terminated."

When the fox came to, and once again noticed Snuffles' head dangling at the bottom end of a log like a hunting trophy, he felt his knees shake.

And then, one of the saws suddenly activated all by itself, cutting the log, as well as the head, clean in half. What was accompanied by a shower of sawdust, blood, brains, and bone tissue.

" _AAAAAH!"_ Tails screamed in terror, and flew out of the building as fast as he could.

"Stop. It is unsafe to leave," Omega warned him. But the fox was so terrified that he didn't listen, and he soon vanished from the robot's sight.

Hurrying after him, Omega also exited the sawmill. Standing at the entrance with both of his miniguns armed and ready, he surveyed the surrounding area in search of a potential target.

* * *

Sonic and Flaky were hiding behind a large boulder. The hedgehog spent a long time trying to calm the female porcupine, who couldn't stop crying after witnessing so many atrocities earlier. Eventually, after Sonic consoled her repeatedly, assuring that he wouldn't let anyone harm her, Flaky did calm down, rolling into a ball at her hero's side, staying silent and only pulling her nose from time to time.

Sonic himself remained vigilant, listening carefully and jumping to the top of the rock from time to time in order to take a look around. He saw no one, although the distant screams he heard every once in a while sent shivers even down his spine…

After he came back down one time, he saw Flaky lifting up her tearful eyes at him. She was still terrified.

"Don't worry, I'm here," he forced himself to smile.

The porcupine immediately surrounded him with her arms, and he also embraced her. He didn't mind her dandruff anymore.

Suddenly, both of them heard a sound that made them stiffen.

BANG! BANG!

 _Damn it!_

Flaky glared at Sonic in terror, but he sent her another reassuring smile.

"Ha! It's all cool. I recognize that voice. And those gunshots!"

He then let go of her, and said-

"Stay here. I'll take a peek at what's going on."

Sonic then jumped up to the top of their boulder, and strained his eyes, looking toward the grassy plain below.

Just as he thought, he saw Shadow there, chasing after someone who must have been Flippy. The black hedgehog fired his gun at the enemy repeatedly as he skated above the grass, yet the bear was fast and managed to hide behind rocks and trees.

"Huh. He seems to be having fun," Sonic estimated.

At first he wanted to run over and help Shadow subdue the crazed bear, but after a short while, it appeared that Flippy vanished from both his and the other hedgehog's sight.

Shadow halted on top of a nearby hill, observing and listening.

"Hey Shad! Over here!" Sonic called out to him.

Soon the two rival hedgehogs stood face to face. Shadow was carrying his usual frown, but he also looked a bit tired.

"So this is where you're hiding!" he addressed Sonic with a clear rebuke. "Typical. Cowering behind a rock, while I'm the only one left with the task of getting rid of that green little fiend!"

"Hey, I would have helped you, but I'm not alone, you know!" the offended Sonic explained himself. "Flaky's over there with me, losing her mind from fear. I gotta watch out so that Flippy doesn't get her!"

Shadow raised a brow.

"Is that so?"

He looked as if he wanted to deliver some biting remark, but in the end he relented.

"Never mind then," continued the dark hedgehog. "Stay here if you like, I don't care. I can take him out myself."

"Happy hunting," Sonic responded with a sarcastic smirk.

In a flash, Shadow warped out of sight, continuing his search for Flippy.

Sonic wanted to get back behind the rock, but when he turned around, he noticed that Flaky was already peeking out from behind of it carefully.

"Who was that?" she inquired timidly (or at least that's what the hedgehog thought she said).

"Oh, it was just Shadow," he explained to her, reassuming his smile. "No worries, he's looking for Flippy. I'm sure he'll be able to stop him soon. Shadow may be a jerk at times… or even most of the time… but he's a pretty decent fighter."

Being assured of that, Flaky exhibited a faint smile. But right after that…

"AAAH!" the porcupine shrieked as her eyes went wide, pointing toward something behind Sonic's back.

"What the…?" the hedgehog said, turning around.

Behind him, he saw Flippy, running his way with bared fangs, bloodshot eyes, and grasping a sharp knife.

"C'mon, teddy! I'm ready for ya!" Sonic taunted him, assuming a militant pose.

 _This is it_ , he thought.

Before he found himself within the range of Flippy's blade, he attempted to spin-dash the bear in the face. But his adversary dodged the attack with ease, and before Sonic knew it, he charged at Flaky this time, roaring like a beast.

"Damn!" cursed the hedgehog, immediately jumping in the air and landing between Flippy and the terrified porcupine.

"Oh no you don't!" he said as he blocked the bear's access to the defenseless Flaky. "To get to her, you're gonna have to get past _me_ first!"

Flippy bared his sharp teeth again, breathing in bloodlust and brandishing his knife. Hearing the frightened shrieks of Flaky behind his back, Sonic prepared to confront the formidable foe.

The bear pounced at him like an attacking lion. Thankfully, the hedgehog was able to grab him by the wrist before Flippy could shove the blade he was holding into his eye socket. The two rolled over, and started wrestling.

Observing the fight in terror, Flaky saw that, once again, Flippy ended up on the top, still trying to injure Sonic with his knife.

" _Wahaha!_ " the bear laughed gruesomely.

"Errr…! You… won't… win!" Sonic groaned, trying to twist his adversary's wrist, and make him drop his weapon. But Flippy was stronger than his looks indicated.

Gazing at the blood-stained tip of the knife which was coming dangerously close to his face, Sonic clenched his teeth. Reaching out with his other free hand in despair, he searched for something that would help him take the murderous bear out…

And, to his surprise, he did indeed find such a thing. Locking his fingers around something that felt like a big rock, Sonic did not hesitate.

He struck Flippy straight in the face. Once, and then again.

"Ah! Whoooah…" the bear moaned, stunned by the unexpected attack.

Flippy's knife fell out of his limp hand. Sonic had knocked out several teeth from his mouth, and his khaki shirt was now soiled with blood.

"Take that, you son of a bitch!" the hedgehog burst out, unable to control his anger anymore.

And then he noticed something.

The item he was holding in his hand, was not a rock at all.

It was a golden statue. Something akin to an ancient idol.

"Uh-oh…" Flaky gasped, covering her mouth with her paws.

Unfortunately, that realization caused Sonic to lose his focus. And Flippy used that opportunity perfectly. As soon as he snapped out of his dazed state, he grabbed his knife again…

… and buried it deep in the hedgehog's shoulder.

Although, for some reason, Sonic didn't feel any pain. Unable to redirect his eyes from the eerie idol he was holding, he felt as is something… or _someone_ … was taking possession of him.

Suddenly, to Flaky and even Flippy's shock, the hedgehog began to laugh. But his voice no longer sounded like before… It was way more dark, and way more insane.

"What?" Flippy said, noticing that his adversary's appearance was beginning to change.

In a flash, the whites of the hedgehog's eyes turned completely black. His green irises were now red, and bloody tears flowed down his face. He bared a set of sharp, pointy teeth in a gruesome smile.

"DO YOU WANT TO PLAY WITH ME?!" Sonic bellowed, and laughed yet again.

Flaky felt the quills on her back bristle…

Even Flippy stood with his mouth agape, unsure what to make of this sudden transformation. Without warning, Sonic punched him in the solar plexus, sending the bear flying through the air, screaming.

"HAHAHAHAHA!" the possessed hedgehog burst out in another wave of chilling laughter.

Flippy was barely able to stand up, but when he did, he growled at his enemy in defiance, promising that he would not give up that easily.

Seeing that, Sonic cocked his head, continuing to smile.

"I AM GOD!" he uttered.

Then, reaching toward the knife which was still stuck in his shoulder, he pulled the blade out effortlessly causing a stream of blood to gush out of the wound. Unfazed, he cast the weapon straight at Flippy.

The bear narrowly avoided the attack, though the knife scaved his cheek. Infuriated by the pain, he stood in front of Sonic, frothing at the mouth.

"Raaah!" screamed the bear, blindly rushing in with another assault.

"SUFFER!" responded Sonic.

The two of them clashed, and began punching, biting, and slashing one another with their claws.

Watching all of this from afar, Flaky could hardly keep herself from swooning. She wanted to run away from this nightmarish sight, but she wasn't able to… Suddenly, she heard a sound behind her back.

Looking over her shoulder, she noticed some of Sonic's friends in the distance. All of the commotion must have caught their attention.

Not thinking much, she quickly ascended the big boulder behind which she's been hiding, and began to wave at the approaching heroes.

"Heeey! Over here!"

At first, Tails and Omega arrived at the sight. Then, Rouge and Knuckles came flying out of the jungle. Finally, Shadow also teleported over to their side.

"What the _hell_ is going on here?!" the black hedgehog asked in rage.

Everyone soon looked toward where Flaky was pointing. There they saw two animals fighting with one another, locked in bloody combat.

"It's Sonic!" exclaimed Tails.

"He's fighting that Flippy guy!" Knuckles added.

"Ah, damn it! I wish they would hold still! I can't get a steady aim!" Shadow groaned in exasperation, pointing his gun at the fighters.

The battle soon moved to the edge of the forest, where the old tree trunk with which Flippy had tried to squish all of them still lay. Sonic now had the bear trapped between himself, and the bloody wall of wood.

His friends rushed over there to see the outcome. And then they noticed something peculiar in the blue hedgehog's appearance…

"Something's not right here!" Rouge observed, deeply concerned. "Sonic's not looking like his old self!"

All of them could clearly see that she was right. Now even Shadow stood with his mouth agape, observing the monster which his old rival had turned into.

Flippy was exhausted. With his back against the log, all bruised and bloodied, he used the remainder of his strength to repeatedly punch Sonic in the face. But the hedgehog was still unfazed, and continued to gaze at him with his black, dead eyes… Eyes that pierced the bear's very soul.

Even Flippy now yelped in terror as Sonic grabbed him by the chain of the dog tags which hung around his neck. With incredible strength, the hedgehog lifted him up from the ground, pinning the bear to the surface of the wood.

As Flippy choked, Sonic looked in his eyes, and said:

"YOU'RE MINE NOW."

A gruesome smile still on his face, he pressed his knee against the bear's chest. He then began to yank the chain he was holding as strongly as he could. Flippy's face turned from green to blue, and then purple.

After a few seconds, the critter didn't even move anymore. But that did not stop Sonic from tightening the chain even more.

Eventually, to all the onlookers' greatest shock, the head detached from Flippy's body almost completely. Blood sprayed from his neck, covering Sonic's face. The hedgehog laughed, reached behind his back, pulled out two of his quills… and shoved them into Flippy's bulging eyes, nailing the bear's head to the log.

Sonic then ripped the body away from the head, leaving Flippy's spine dangling. He lifted the corpse up, tore it in half, and let the fresh blood fall freely on top of his head.

"Hahahaha…. WAHAHAHAHAAAA!"

His maniacal laughter sent a chill down his friends' backs… Never had they witnessed him exhibit such violence and savagery before.

Casting both parts of Flippy's body away, he now turned around, looking at everyone with his black eyes. Blood covered his sharp fangs, which he continued to bare in a wide, revolting grin.

"HELLO. DO YOU ALSO WANT TO PLAY WITH ME?" he asked.

Snapping out of his state of shock, Shadow aimed his gun at the demon which stood before them.

"This is not Sonic…" he whispered.

"Nooo!" Tails cried out, grabbing Shadow's hand and making him shoot the dirt. The furious hedgehog pushed him to the ground.

"Idiot! That was my last round!"

They now all realized that, step by step, Sonic began to walk toward them… Even though there were five against one, having seen how the demon was basically immune to damage, each of the heroes had serious doubts if they would live to see another sunrise…

"WAHAHAHA!" laughed the hedgehog, making their blood curdle.

And then, suddenly, they all heard the voice of Flaky. Crying and waving her little paw, the red porcupine was trying to catch everyone's attention.

"Hey! Over there!"

Shadow directed his eyes toward where she was pointing… and saw a golden statue lying in the grass.

"The idol…" gasped the hedgehog, realizing the truth. "Omega! _Shoot that damned thing!_ "

"Affirmative," the robot responded, readying his rocket launcher. "Target locked."

He then fired a single projectile… and the ground underneath their feet shook.

It was hard for them to make out what was going on at first, as the blast that ensued had stunned them and surrounded them with a thick cloud of smoke. But when the smoke evaporated, the cursed idol was nowhere to be found.

Sonic himself lay on the ground now, having seemingly lost his consciousness. The first ones who ran over to his side were Tails and Flaky.

When the fox and the porcupine managed to resuscitate their friend, it appeared that Sonic returned to his normal self. Sitting up, he looked at everyone's faces with his own, normal eyes.

"Ah, my head!" he moaned. "What happened?"

He now saw a smile appearing on both Tails and Flaky's faces.

Everyone breathed with relief. It seemed that the threat was finally gone.

"That was one hell of a ride," Knuckles addressed Rouge.

"Yeah. Sure glad it's over! I think I'm gonna stay away from forests for a while…"

And then, Sonic also noticed something else.

"Hey! Why am I all covered… _in blood_?!"

In a state of horror, the hedgehog redirected his eyes at the huge log at his side. There he noticed the dangling head of a green bear, which had two blue quills shoved in its eyes…

"Is that… what I think it is?!" Sonic asked. And then, he fainted.

* * *

Sonic and Flaky were sitting on top of a hill, holding each other's hands and watching the sun set over the forest.

"I'm sorry about your friends…" the hedgehog spoke awkwardly. "I sure wish we were able to save them…"

Sadly yet sincerely, the porcupine smiled.

"That's okay," he understood her saying. "You saved me! And that's a lot!"

"Eh… yeah…" Sonic sighed, fixing his eyes at the dirt awkwardly.

But then he had an idea. Standing up, he stretched out his hand to Flaky, helping her stand up.

"Huh?" the girl asked, unsure of what he was planning.

"Don't worry, heh-heh! Just follow me! Here, take my hand! And make sure to hold on!"

He lead her down the side of the hill. At first, they ran side by side, laughing. But then, Sonic started to gain speed.

Flaky tried as hard as she could to keep up with her friend, but the hedgehog was way too fast. Eventually, he started dragging her behind him.

"Aaah! Sonic, stop! You're hurting meee!" cried the girl.

"Huh?" said the hedgehog, looking back over his shoulder. "Oh crap!"

Hitting the breaks, he halted, letting go of Flaky's hand. The porcupine danced around dizzily for a while, and then fell to the ground.

"Whoah, woo…" she moaned, stars flashing before her eyes.

"Are you okay?!" Sonic asked her, scared that he may have caused his friend harm. "I'm so sorry, I got carried away!"

But after a short while, Flaky smiled. Rubbing her wrist, she said:

"I'm alright!"

Sonic helped her stand up again, and they stood face to face in the light of the setting sun.

"You're my hero!" whispered the porcupine as their eyes met. "I… I like you very much, Sonic…"

"I like you too, Flaky," the hedgehog whispered back, and smiled.

Both of them closed their eyes.

Sonic felt warm and fuzzy inside. He had no idea why. But he had a feeling that it was Flaky who made him feel that way- a sensation he never felt in anyone else's presence.

Suddenly, for some reason, that sensation also became external. Sonic felt something warm on his face… and that was kind of weird.

Opening his eyes, he expected to see Flaky's face. Only that Flaky's face was no longer there.

In fact, the porcupine's whole head was gone. Or rather, scattered around in various places. Parts of it were even on Sonic's face right now, including Flaky's cerebro-spinal fluid, parts of her brain, and a large portion of her blood.

He then heard the nastiest sound he had even encountered in his entire life.

"GET AWAY FROM HIM, YOU BITCH!"

Behind Flaky, or whatever was left of her, stood Amy, clutching her Piko-Piko hammer with which she had just shattered the porcupine's skull.

" _Eep_ …" yelped the poor blue hedgehog.

The whites of Amy's eyes were completely black, her irises red, and a narrow stream of bloody tears ran down her cheeks. She bared her sharp teeth in a smile, and said:

"YOU BELONG TO ME!"

The quills on Sonic's back bristled. He made a swift one-eighty, taking off at the speed of sound, screaming from the top of his lungs:

" _OH SHIII-OOOOOOT!"_

* * *

THE END

* * *

 **AN: Well, I guess they didn't find the Chaos Emerald after all... ;) Also, SonicxFlaky is the only and best ship.**


	2. You're a Gem

**AN: Aw dang, I wrote another one… Much shorter than the 1st one, tho.**

 **The hunt for the Chaos Emerald continues, and this time, we join Team Dark in their search for the mystical MacGuffin.**

* * *

 **Happy Tree Sonic Heroes & Knuckles**

 _ **Today's Episode:**_ **You're a Gem**

* * *

 _ **Starring:**_

 **Sh is for Shadow- Shiny shoot-bangs shall surely put an end to shady shenanigans!**

 _ **This week featuring:**_

 **Team Dark- Rouge, E-123 Omega**

 _ **Also featuring:**_

 **The Happy Tree Friends- Cuddles, The Mole, Pop, Cub**

* * *

"Hurry up, you two!" Shadow rushed both of his teammates right before running ahead of them again.

The bat and the robot have had a hard time catching up with him. After what happened the day before, Rouge wanted to abort the mission altogether and forget about the Chaos Emerald. But Shadow would have none of it.

"Well, at least we're out of that cursed forest…" huffed the female treasure hunter, the memories of the bloodbath they encountered there continuing to haunt her.

"Affirmative," Omega agreed with her.

After leaving the seemingly unending, dreadful jungle behind, they now entered an area full of rolling hills, covered in juicy-green grass and bathed in sunlight. Their surroundings seemed completely serene… but so it had been right before yesterday's slaughter. The whole team therefore decided to remain extra cautious.

Shadow halted on top of one of the hills, observing. The frown on his face informed his comrades that the colorful environment was still quite sickening to the black hedgehog.

As their leader surveyed the area, Rouge stood nearby alongside Omega, stretching her tired wings.

"I seriously wonder if he even knows where we're going," the bat whispered to the robot, making sure Shadow didn't hear her.

But Omega was far less dismayed than her.

"Have confidence," he beeped. "If the Chaos Emerald is in the vicinity, Shadow would be the one to know."

"Yeah, that's what we're hoping for, right?" Rouge responded without much conviction.

She then glared at a bunch of flowers beneath her feet. They looked almost overly sweet- like they were fit for a picture hanging on the wall of a Chao Kindergarten, or something. She started thinking.

"Omega… do you remember that bear from yesterday?" asked the bat.

"My records of him are intact," the robot announced, turning her way.

"When we met him, there was absolutely no sign that he would… you know… _flip_ like that, right?" she uttered, biting her lip. "And what later happened to Sonic… They weren't being themselves! It felt as if something had…"

Suddenly, both Omega and Shadow turned in the same direction, completely startling Rouge.

"Movement detected!" said the robot, interrupting the bat's monologue. He immediately brandished his weapon.

Omega's teammates, however, stood in complete bedazzlement, with their mouths agape. And that was because what they saw…

… was a rabbit.

"Hii!" the cutesy woodland critter called them from the top of a neighboring hill.

His fur was bright yellow, he wore pink bunny-slippers on his feet… even his squeaky little voice sounded exactly the same as the character whom all of Team Dark saw being massacred by Flippy just the other day.

"What the _hell_ …?" Shadow whispered under his breath, immediately becoming visibly agitated.

"Tell you what… How about we just get out of here?" Rouge said with an awkward laugh. She was just as confused as the rest of her team, and not in a good way.

Not knowing what else to do in such a situation, Shadow turned toward Omega.

"It's the same rabbit…" he growled. "It's the same _damn_ rabbit! How can this be possible?!"

The robot stood silent for a while, analyzing.

"Slight chance of this lifeform being an identical twin of the other," he finally responded. "Estimating probability percentage… _Error!_ Does not compute."

All of Team Dark once again looked toward the critter.

Yup, it was Cuddles alright. Or at least, an exact clone of the walking Easter decoration.

"Haha! Hey, follow me!" the bunny seemed to be saying in his bumbling dialect. He then waved at the stupefied comrades, ran ahead, and vanished beyond the top of the hill.

"What do we do now?" Rouge asked, looking like she'd just seen a ghost.

Shadow clenched his fists.

"We do what he said! After him!" he ordered, and immediately hovered forward.

Omega soon followed the hedgehog, and although she had a really bad feeling about all of this, their female teammate soon joined the two.

To Rouge's surprise, on the other side of the hill, she found something that looked like a small village. Scattered along the plain were wooden houses and other buildings painted in pastel colors. Next to the road which led to the miniature town, there stood the welcoming committee, in the person of the eerily cute yellow rabbit.

Rouge joined Shadow and Omega as they stood by the critter, looking at him intensively. When the bat stood by her teammates, the bunny smiled at all three of them and mumbled:

"Wewwo! Wewwome woo Wappy Wee Wow!"

"Omega. Translate," Shadow ordered.

"At once," replied the robot. "The lifeform's vocalization may be interpreted as meaning- _hello. Welcome to Happy Tree Town_."

"Happy Tree Town, huh?" wondered Rouge.

The settlement indeed looked like a happy one. It was full of bright tones, clean streets, and well-kept lawns. The woodland animals walking around seemed to always smile, and some of them were even whistling or singing as they strolled down the sidewalks. Birds were chirping in the branches, and the air was permeated with the smell of cinnamon.

"I don't like the looks of this place!" Shadow stated abruptly. Then, he addressed the rabbit standing in front of him. " _You_! You understand what I'm saying, don't you?"

The critter nodded eagerly, his long ears flapping as he waved his little head. Then, he manifested another smile.

Shadow arched a brow.

"Your name is _Cuddles_ , right?" he asked distastefully.

Another nod. And another smile.

Now Rouge became even more gobsmacked. She remembered it clearly, and knew it was no hallucination- Cuddles had his heart torn out through the back by Flippy the Bear just the day before. She could still remember the smell of the bunny's blood. And yet, here he was- all fine and dandy.

"Identity with previously encountered creature estimated at 100%" Omega affirmed just to make things even worse.

"But… _how_?!" asked the female treasure hunter, her voice becoming erratic.

She also noticed that, for some reason, Shadow did not seem to be astonished by this fact anymore. Ignoring Cuddles, he turned toward the rest of his teammates and, speaking completely seriously, said:

"Haven't you still been able to figure it out?"

"Figure out what?" the stupefied bat inquired. "Shadow… you did see the same things we did yesterday, didn't you? Cuddles was _murdered_! As in, _to death_!"

"Yeah. So?" the hedgehog responded bluntly.

Omega and Rouge shared a startled look…

"Does not compute," the robot blooped. "The creature's life functions had been completely terminated. How could he have been resuscitated after receiving such deadly trauma?"

A mysterious spark appeared in the corner of the dark hedgehog's eye.

"There is one way…" he began. "An artifact of great power. One which is said to even be able to bring someone back to life."

Now they understood. Of course! The same thing which they've been looking for!

"The Chaos Emerald!" Rouge and Omega said at the same time, embarrassed with themselves for having ignored something this obvious.

"Yes!" Shadow responded. "If that is indeed what happened, the Emerald must be close. And _he_ is going to take us to it!"

Saying that, the hedgehog pointed at Cuddles. This caused the rabbit to once again open his mouth and laugh.

Team Dark's leader went over to face the critter.

"Tell me," he said. "In this little town of yours, do you keep any precious stones? We're looking for one particular gem of great value. It's about the size of your heart."

An expression of wonderment appeared on the critter's face as he rubbed his chin. But just a moment later, he bared his teeth in a smile, saying:

"Oh yeah! C'mon, fowwow we!"

Pointing toward something in the distance, Cuddles began to walk, inviting the others to come along with him.

The members of Team Dark looked at one another, and shrugged. Then, they just followed the rabbit down one of the streets of Happy Tree Town.

"Stay alert, remember what happened yesterday," Shadow advised the others.

Yet as they walked along, seeing that the village was a true abode of peace and tranquility, their inner tension began to loosen up. The town's bright colors and the way the inhabitants happily went around their daily activities created an overall atmosphere of safety.

Only Shadow remained silent and grim. But that was just him being himself.

After making their way down several blocks, Rouge felt far more comfortable. Just like her two companions, she followed Cuddles wondering where he was taking them. The bunny waved at his friends whom he passed on the way, humming a song as he walked.

Suddenly, Rouge called the rabbit, telling him to stop.

"Hey, hold on a minute."

"Huh?" Cuddles halted and turned her way. Shadow and Omega did the same.

"What is it?" asked the hedgehog.

Smiling to indicate that they had nothing to fear, the bat pointed at a nearby grocery store.

"I'm hungry. We haven't eaten anything since yesterday! What do you say we stop for a little snack?"

Though Cuddles reacted enthusiastically to her proposition, the team's leader was greatly reluctant.

"We don't have time to lose!" Shadow protested. "We need to find the Chaos Emerald before Sonic and his gang get to it first!"

Rouge, however, remained persistent.

"Ah, c'mon Shadow! I'm not talking about a sit-down lunch. Let's just grab something we can take on the road. It'll only take a second."

Surprisingly, Omega backed her idea.

"I agree. A brief interlude would be highly beneficial."

"Not you as well!" the hedgehog growled at him. "You don't even eat food!"

Noticing that Cuddles was also gazing at him like a three-year-old at an ice cream truck, Shadow groaned, finally deciding to give in to their requests.

"Ah, fine! But make it quick."

Led by Rouge, they all entered the grocery store, and stood in line with the other customers.

Shadow went to the side, deciding to wait for them in the corner. As he stood with his back against the wall and his arms crossed, he noticed that one of the customers' children, a tan bear cub, barely a baby wearing a diaper and a little propeller hat on his head, was gazing at him intensively.

Once he caught eye contact with the adorable little critter, the cub laughed at him innocently. Exasperated, Shadow rolled his eyes, and looked the other way.

Immersed in his thoughts, he wondered how long this whole unnecessary ordeal would take, and how far they were from the Chaos Emerald. He tried to concentrate in order to detect the precious jewel's presence…

… and then he felt something odd.

Shadow turned his head and looked down. There he noticed the same bear cub, pulling at the gun he carried at his side, attracted by the shiny object's glitter.

"WHOAH!" the hedgehog reacted instinctively, pushing the child away before it was able to seize the dangerous firearm. "Don't you dare touch that!"

The startled cub made a few steps back, swaying and looking as if it were about to fall over. But then, from between one of the store isles, another bear came running. The adult, who for some reason wore a brown bath robe, was apparently the cub's father. Crying out loudly in panic, he managed to grab his son in the nick of time before the child collapsed to the floor.

The cub fixed his eyes on Shadow, made a sad face, and burst out crying.

Seeing that the dad gazed in his direction angrily, the hedgehog looked right back at him and hissed:

"Curb your brat, pops!"

The bear grumbled, readjusted the smoking pipe he was holding in his teeth, and quickly took his son away from this rude individual.

Rouge was done with her shopping shortly afterward, and they returned to walking down the streets of Happy Tree Town just a while later. The bat now carried a big bag of cherries, which she shared with the giggling Cuddles. Noticing that Shadow maintained his gloom, she also offered some to him.

"Cheer up, mister frowny face!" she spoke with a mouth full of seeds. "You want a cherry?"

But the hedgehog offered her nothing more than a snort. Then, he took some raw coffee beans from a bag he himself had apparently obtained at the store, popped them in his mouth, and began to chew grimly.

After a few more minutes, Omega pointed toward another building which stood in front of them, saying:

"I estimate that this is our destination."

The place appeared to be a jewelry store.

"Haha! Yeah!" Cuddles joyfully confirmed the robot's assessment. "C'mon in!"

Following the rabbit, the members of Team Dark entered the establishment. At the register, they saw the owner- a mole wearing a dark turtleneck and black glasses.

"Oh, I like this place!" Rouge's eyes immediately lit up as soon as she saw the precious jewels and gems kept within the store's display cabinets.

Something else caught Shadow's attention, however.

"Why the hell would they hire a blind person to run a jewelry store?" he expressed his consternation looking at the clerk.

"Equal opportunity employment," Omega answered him.

It was obvious that the mole (whose light purple face was adorned with a literal mole) did not even notice the customers entering the building. In order to grab his attention, Cuddles came up to the counter, and proceeded to wave his hand and speak to the clerk in their unintelligible dialect.

That seemed to do the trick. The mole nodded, grabbed his white cane and went out back, almost colliding with the door. But when he returned…

All the members of Team Dark stood in astonishment as they noticed a glass case in the blind clerk's paws, which held within it a huge gem of a deep green , they had reached their goal! And better yet, they did it earlier than the dweebs from Team Sonic.

Before the mole set the jewel in front of them, however, he bumped into the counter, and the case slipped out of his grasp.

"Uh-oh…" Cuddled said sadly.

"NO!" Rouge and Shadow yelled in unison.

Fortunately, the case had a metal base, and once it fell on the wooden surface of the counter, it wobbled a bit, but remained upright and intact.

Everybody breathed with relief.

Enchanted by the beautiful gem's glow, Rouge approached in order to be the first one to examine it.

"Is that _really_ the Chaos Emerald?" she said in wonderment, stretching out her hand to touch the glass surface of the case.

Shadow, however, preferred her not to do that.

" _Don't touch it!_ " he said, attempting to stop her. But he was too late.

As soon as Rouge laid her fingers on the armored casing, the metal base emitted several red rays of light, which shot out straight up. Recognizing them to be lasers, the bat gasped and quickly took her hand away before losing her fingers. Unfortunately, doing that caused the case to tip over, and shoot the lasers toward those standing at the other side of the counter.

"GAH!" the members of Team Dark exclaimed as they quickly jumped away from the deadly beams.

The lasers continued to shoot out for several more seconds, and then they were deactivated.

Shadow, who managed to avoid getting diced by quickly dodging the beam, now looked toward his companions. Omega seemed unharmed… but a strange expression of terror was painted on Rouge's face.

It was not because the deadly trap hurt her, however. No. It was because Cuddles, who wasn't fast enough, presently had a diagonal cross-section running straight through the middle of his horrified little face.

When half of his head fell off from the rest of his body, and a prime example of bunny anatomy became visible to the members of Team Dark, along with a waterfall of blood, Shadow saw that Rouge was about to lose it.

Running up to her quickly, he covered her mouth with his hand.

"Quiet! _Shhhh!_ Don't scream!" he ordered her in a toned-down voice, immobilizing the bat while she struggled in panic. " _Look!_ "

He then pointed at the mole behind the counter. The critter just continued to stand there as if nothing had happened. It was obvious that he hasn't even noticed that Cuddled had just been sliced in half in his own establishment.

After a short while, Rouge was able to settle down, though her eyes were still as wide as saucers. When Shadow finally let her go, she continued to pant, unable to look away from the dead carcass of a rabbit which lay on the floor, soiling it with red stuff spewing from the open skull.

Holding himself in, Shadow approached the counter again.

"Could you... open this case for us?" he said to the mole plainly.

The clerk nodded, took out a key, and quickly unlocked the armored glass casing. The huge gem now lay in front of them freely, in its full beauty.

There was only one problem.

"Error," Omega suddenly announced. "My readings indicate no trace of Chaos energy. This is not a Chaos Emerald."

" _What?!_ " Shadow gasped, grabbing the jewel and lifting it before his eyes. "He's right! This… this is just a regular emerald! It's _useless!_ "

Everyone could see how greatly disappointed the hedgehog was. And how mad he became.

" _Arr!_ Damn it!" cursed Shadow, tightening his grip around the gem, wishing to break it in his fingers. But then…

 _Bang!_

The green surface of the emerald suddenly became red. Astonished, Shadow also noticed something on his face.

Looking up, he saw that where one of the mole's nonfunctional eyes had once been, there was now a hollow space. The clerk swirled a bit, and then collapsed with his face on the counter. The hedgehog could see that not only was the inside of the mole's cranial region clearly exposed, but that particles of the critter's cerebral matter now covered most of his own body.

Seeing this, Rouge opened her mouth, and shrieked.

The emerald fell from Shadow's hand. Turning to the side, almost completely stunned, he witnessed a very peculiar sight.

In the middle of the jewelry store, there stood the bear cub Shadow had encountered earlier. Only that this time, he was holding the hedgehog's gun firmly in his grasp.

"Hahaha! _Pew! Pew!_ " said the cub, playfully swinging the firearm up and down.

To his shock, Shadow realized that the kid must have taken the gun from him when he wasn't looking.

Suddenly, they all heard another scream. It was the cub's father, who had just run into the store. Noticing the bodies, as well as the three blood-splattered characters in front of him, the critter gasped as his face turned pale. And then he noticed his son with the pistol in his little hands.

" _WAAAH!_ No no no!" the bear screamed, running over to the kid.

"La-la! _Pew pew!_ " the cub continued his play, this time directing the weapon toward the largest target in the room.

Omega.

Fortunately, before the child was able to pull the trigger again, his father snatched the gun from his hands. Looking at his disappointed son sternly, he wagged a finger at him.

"Uh-uh-uh!" the bear started to rebuke his naughty child. But doing that caused him to ignore another important fact.

That Omega now had his miniguns directed at both him and his son.

"Target locked," the robot announced coldly.

"Omega! NOOO!" Shadow and Rouge attempted to stop him. But having been threatened like this, the machine reacted according to his defense protocol.

 _DADADADADADA!_

His comrades covered their ears as Omega fired 60 thousand rounds per minute, showering the floor with bullet shells. They saw both pop and cub get reduced to minced meat with speed comparable to having been thrown in a blender. The critters' screams of horror were muted by the gunfire, and when the robot was done with them, there was hardly anything left of their bodies but piles of unrecognizable flesh bits, with an intact smoking pipe lying in the middle of the bloodbath.

"Threat eliminated," Omega announced proudly.

Rouge and Shadow stood gobsmacked in silence for a while. But then the former of them began to scream from the top of her voice.

" _AAAH! AAAAAH…!"_

The sound of the bat's outcry of fright was soon accompanied by an even louder one- that of the store's burglar alarm.

Letting out a deep sigh, Shadow covered his face with a hand. He wiped off some of the mole's brain tissue, and said:

"Well, shit."

Then, grabbing both the unfazed Omega and the hysteric Rouge, he quickly teleported out of the jewelry store before whatever law enforcement Happy Tree Town had could catch them.

* * *

 **AN: Here's a piece of trivia for you- the Happy Tree Friends video game, 'False Alarm', was actually published by Sega XD**


End file.
